RO project starts in ’18; pupils on the move
The Red Oak School Board received an update on the renovation project at its regular meeting Monday, Nov. 13.
Alley Poyner Macchietto architect Daric O’Neal outlined the current design schedule as the project moves forward.
“We have different phases we go through: Schematic design, design development, and then the construction documents. We plan to be done with our design development phase at the end of the November time frame. Then we jump into our construction documents, which are really the meat of the bidding documents that Boyd Jones will put out to bid. We expect those to be wrapped up in February, with March being a bid package window,” O’Neal said.
Mark Phister, representing Boyd Jones, outlined the construction phase of the project to the board, and how they will overcome the challenge of placing students during construction.
“It’s always a big puzzle. Do we put them in one spot and try to tackle the whole pie, or shuffle them into one area and then move them around while you fix one area, then another area. Putting all that stuff together, the best option we came up with was using the tech center,” Pfister said.
Phister added there were a certain number of classrooms required, plus areas for ag sciences, art, the science lab, and industrial arts.
“We’re able to do that with pretty minimal work inside the building, and with temporary walls. The kids will have what still feels like a normal classroom, and they won’t be outside in temporary classrooms,” commented Pfister.
At the start of summer, 2018, Pfister said they will start putting up the temporary classrooms, tackling asbestos remediation in the school, and conducting a full mechanical replacement. Also during the first summer, they would start fire sprinkler installation at Inman Primary.
“At the start of the 2018-19 school year, the high school students are all in the tech center. And this may not be popular, but the entire rest of the school is in the construction zone for the entire 2018-19 school year. While it’s painful with some of the spaces, it allows us to gain some ground and lets the students be in a temporary situation for a lot less time,” Pfister advised.
At the start of summer, 2019, crews will go back to the tech center and handle construction work, finish work in the existing high school and work on the rest of the new addition. At the start of the 2019-2020 school year, Pfister said the plan would be for all the existing spaces in the high school to be available for use in their new configuration.
“That will include the connector link to the tech center. Another reason for this schedule would be so the middle school students could be brought over to the tech center, or the remodeled classrooms, which would remove the middle school from operations beginning with that school year,” said Pfister.
Starting with the summer of 2020, Pfister said all remaining work at the tech center, and the rest of the work at the high school would be completed by then, so at the start of the 2020-21 school year, all the students would be in their remodeled spaces.
Pfister advised the remodel of Inman Primary would be handled early on in the construction process.
“The renovation would be done during the 2018-19 school year. It’s probably not a year-long project. It ties into the middle school move also, as one of the grade levels at Inman can move into the Inman space,” said Pfister.
One of the questions raised with closing off the high school for the 2018-19 school year is taking the high school cafeteria out of service. O’Neal said that issue has been addressed.
“Through conversations with Taher, we’ve determined the food issue can be handled with the Inman and middle school kitchens for the school year. As for where the students eat, the school board would have to call in every favor that anyone has ever owed you to figure out how to create some partnerships throughout the construction process,” O’Neal commented.
Gym space
The other component would be the removal of gym space. O’Neal said the board will also have to look at partnerships, utilize extra space, or bus kids around. The YMCA may be a possibility. There’s eating space at the Gold Fair building that could possibly be used as a cafeteria,” O’Neal advised.
Also, O’Neal said there will be no band and music availability at the high school, so a space will have to be determined for band and music students.
Superintendent Tom Messinger said he has already been in contact with the YMCA and the fair board, so talks have begun, and so far the conversations have been positive about partnerships.
O’Neal said part of the reason for the project timeline is to get the work done as quickly as possible.
“We don’t want this to be a three-to-five-year project, or we’ll all hate each other by the end. The question is do we want to be really miserable for one year, and move forward, or be mostly miserable for three years. We went through all the scenarios,” O’Neal commented.
Messinger said the middle school and Inman gyms would be utilized for activities during the 2018-19 school year, as they would be the largest gyms available. The only shortcoming at the middle school, Messinger said, was that there were no showering capabilities.
Board member Roger Carlson was supportive of the project timeline, and believed it could be done.
“This community can pull together and get it done. We’re lucky we got the bond issue passed, but we knew this was going to happen if it did. It’s going to be an inconvenience for awhile, but in the long run, it’s going to be a great thing,” commented Carlson.
More discussions on the project are slated for future board meetings.